This modest tower house, likely built during the 16th century, played its part in the turbulent politics of Ulster at the dawn of the 17th century. In 1600, it served as the stronghold of Phelemy Brasleigh O’Doherty, one of the last Gaelic lords to resist English rule in the region. Following the Flight of the Earls and the subsequent Plantation of Ulster, the castle changed hands dramatically; it was granted to Arthur Chichester in 1611, who promptly leased it to a Lieutenant Hoan with specific instructions to rebuild and fortify the structure.

The castle itself is a compact keep constructed from rubble stone with carefully dressed ashlar quoins, all bound together with coarse mortar made from local sea sand. Its walls, which vary in thickness, slope inward as they rise from ground level, creating the characteristic battered profile common to Irish tower houses of this period. The eastern wall still shows evidence of the original entrance, whilst a musket loop positioned at first floor level speaks to the castle’s defensive capabilities during an age when firearms were revolutionising warfare. Archaeological evidence suggests the tower house underwent at least three distinct building phases, with Lieutenant Hoan likely responsible for the later additions, including what historical records describe as ‘a good bawne of lyme and stone’; a fortified courtyard wall that would have provided additional protection.

Today, visitors can still trace the remnants of this defensive complex across the site. Some 42 metres south southeast of the main keep, a fragment of a semicircular tower survives, though only its western section remains standing at about 1.75 metres high. Early 19th century sketches show this tower once stood two storeys tall with crenellated battlements, and it likely formed part of a more extensive bawn wall system that enclosed the castle grounds. North of the keep, a pile of rubble marks the location of another structure, now lost to time. These scattered remains, combined with the surviving keep, paint a picture of a once formidable coastal fortification that witnessed the transformation of Gaelic Ulster into an English plantation, its stones bearing silent testimony to one of the most significant periods of change in Irish history.